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He looks at me and smirks. “Eat your biscuits.”

So I do.

I settle down a little way from the fire. Fury comes and sits beside me, and I offer him a biscuit. He takes it—quite gently.

“Good wolf.”

He casts me a wicked look.

I ignore it and eat my biscuits. Then I munch on another apple, and slowly, the tension drains from me.

We’re warm. We’re fed. We know where we’re going. While it’s not the result Iwantedfrom today, it’s better than it could have been. I glance at Fury beside me. There’s justonething that could make this night better.

“So, are you ever going to shift?” I ask. I want my boyfriend back.

Though that’s not entirely true. I’m not even sure heismy boyfriend. We had a turbulent love-hate relationship. And while we made love that one night, afterward, I ran away. I don’t think he waspleasedwith me.

Then I found out he’d tattled to his father about me despite Khendril’s instructions not to tell anyone. Not only that—he’d promised to bring me and Hecate to Khronus, and that wouldn’t have ended well. None of which he thought to mention to me.

And finally, Ileft him behind.

I don’t know what all that adds up to.

Maybe heblamesme for what happened to him. For being stuck in this world. For being trapped in his wolf form. For whatever else he suffered—torturemaybe—at his own father’s hands.

He gives a wolfish shrug.

I sigh and turn back to the others. Looks like they’re just about finished gorging. One by one, they get up and head to the river to wash their hands. I shuffle closer to the fire and sit for a moment, hugging my knees, my eyes closed as I try to find some inner peace.

Nearby, Stella is stamping and nickering as she grazes. I sense Fury coming up beside me, pressing close. It feels right.

I’m tired, but I’m not ready to sleep yet.

I open my eyes and look at the others. Josh is curled up next to Zayne, an arm draped around his shoulder. His eyes are heavy. On his other side, Winter sits with her head on her knees, staring into the flames. She was thin when we first met—she’s even thinner now.

I don’t begrudge her the meat. She needs fattening up.

“What do you know of these sorceresses who work with the shadowguard?” I ask. “It seemed like they were something you’d heard of before.”

She looks up from the fire, orange sparks glinting in her eyes. “There’s a legend among my people,” she begins. “They say that there was a group of powerful witches who fled from Astrali over five thousand years ago.”

“Why?”

She glances away for a moment. “We do not know.”

“Great.”

“There’s no one left from that time. Well, no one who is talking. Maybehis...” She nods in Fury’s direction. “…father knows the truth.”

“What happened to these witches?”

“No one knows for sure, but when Lucifer vanished from the world, many of them also disappeared. Maybe they have been confined in Hell with him. But now, it seems that they’ve found a way out.”

Hmm, maybe the same way the shadowguard get through. Just an echo of their real selves. “Well, that’s not good,” I say. They must be powerful to bring down Hecate’s wards—Hecate is one of the most powerful witches the world has ever known.

Except for my mother.

She was the most powerful witch. But she was clearly no match for Lucifer. I find myself fingering the amber pendant around my neck. It’s the one thing I have from my mother. Just a pretty keepsake to remind me of the mom who dumped me when I was a baby, or was it something more? I don’t know.